As reported by Bloomberg: "Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and Youbet.com Inc. have joined professional poker players in helping support legislation to be introduced today to legalize online gambling.

"The measure is being proposed by Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who failed in the last session of Congress to repeal a ban on the gambling.

"Supporters 'have been mobilizing,' Frank said in an interview last week. 'This is a grassroots thing.'

"Along with Harrah's and Youbet, Frank's allies include the Poker Players Alliance, headed by former U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato, a New York Republican. London-based UC Group Ltd., an online payments provider, hired former U.S. Representative Thomas Downey, a New York Democrat, to lobby for the bill.

"...Harrah's Vice President Jan Jones said regulating and taxing online gambling might swell government coffers by $2 billion to $6 billion annually. "This is a thriving industry," said Jones, who is in Washington this week to meet with lawmakers and staff members. "They can put in a regulatory structure and they can tax it..."